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Abbreviations on Ancestry's UK passenger lists

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  • Abbreviations on Ancestry's UK passenger lists

    Can any one help as to what the abbreviations. "OBC" and "OFC" might mean on one of Ancestry's passenger lists please? I'm over the moon to have found my rather mysterious Gt Uncle Archie on one of these. He went off to the Far East as a young man in 1904 and the story was that he married out there but there's never been any evidence for that. I have him on Findmypast as an outgoing passenger to Singapore in 1935, so I knew he came back to England at some time but he was alone when he left- no wife travelled back with him. But,Eureka!,he is on Ancestry's new records. He came to England in 1934 and with him was his wife, Beatrice. She didn't go back until 1936 according to Findmypast - I wonder why? Maybe she was pregnant although no child travelled back with her.

    Now, when they arrived at Dover in 1934, against Gt. Uncle Archie's name are pencilled in the letters "OFC" and a few other passengers have that or "OBC" by their names. OH and I have racked our brains to work out what this means. I don't think B and F stand for British or Foreign because the list is headed "Names and Descriptions of British Passengers"....and Archie was British by birth anyway. "FC" doesn't stand for First Class because Archie and Beatrice are listed as Second Class passengers. Now we've run out of ideas so if anyone can give us an explanation we would be grateful. I bet it will be something pretty obvious...but we've been mulling it over for too long and can't think straight now.

    Any ideas please?

    Ann
    ".... thy memory shall be blest by the children of the children of thy child".
    Alfred, Lord Tennyson






  • #2
    Any chance of a surname so we can have a look at the passenger list please?
    Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Uncle John View Post
      Any chance of a surname so we can have a look at the passenger list please?
      Sorry,I should have thought of that!

      ARCHIBALD BEAUMONT.

      Born c1888 (not true. He was born in 1878 but he had a wife who was born in 1903 so I guess he knocked 10 years off fro that reason!).

      Arrived at Dover 17th Sept. 1934 aboard the "Trier" which had begun its voyage in Yokahama,Japan.

      Archie is the second from last entry at the bottom of the page and Beatrice is the last entry.

      Tell me as well what you make of the entries on the opposite page under the heading of Births on the Voyage. They relate to the abbreviations but, somehow I don't think they have anything to do with births on the voyage as no names etc. are given.
      Ann
      ".... thy memory shall be blest by the children of the children of thy child".
      Alfred, Lord Tennyson





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      • #4
        Possibly

        OBC=Other British Country
        OFC=Other Foreign Country

        Or OBC= Of British Commonwealth?

        The entries are in the columns indicating the country of intended future residence, options on the document include "other parts of the British Empire" or "Other Countries".
        Last edited by Glen in Tinsel Knickers; 23-10-08, 17:13.
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

        Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
        My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
        My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

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        • #5
          Just a thought - it's a German ship with a German captain, so the (presumably) German purser could have used German abbreviations.
          Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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          • #6
            Thanks Uncle John and Glen.

            Just a thought - it's a German ship with a German captain, so the (presumably) German purser could have used German abbreviations


            I don't think they are German abbreviations. Last night my OH looked up himself on the passenger lists for his return from the Middle East after National Service and some of the others on his ship had these letters against their names. One of his friends who was a Scot, returning to Scotland had "OBC" against his name - see Glen's idea below;this fits in with it.

            Possibly

            OBC=Other British Country
            OFC=Other Foreign Country

            Or OBC= Of British Commonwealth?

            The entries are in the columns indicating the country of intended future residence, options on the document include "other parts of the British Empire" or "Other Countries".


            That is a possiblity Glen.Although my gt.uncle and aunt are listed in the column headed "Country of intended future permanent residence" as planning to settle for a year or more in England, he went back to the Far East in August 1935 as he had a job with the education department in Thailand - so OFC against his name could well stand for Other Foreign Country. His wife did actually stay here for more than a year as she didn't return to Bangkok until 1936. You could have cracked it Glen. Thank you!

            Ann
            ".... thy memory shall be blest by the children of the children of thy child".
            Alfred, Lord Tennyson





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